510 million square kilometers, of which only 148 million can be walked on, this is the earth’s surface.
In the last two years we have all been missing, every square meter of our wonderful planet it was nothing more than a memory to be experienced through photos, videos and… why not even video-games.
The pandemic forced us to stay within our four walls while outside nature continued undisturbed it’s life cycle. Never as much as in the last period have we dreamed of traveling far from our own cities that have become ghostly and empty. A large part of the population therefore decided to occupy their time by experimenting with various types of video-games, starting from sportsmen who have had to keep fit with various fitness games, up to sporadic gamers who have tried the experience of starting and even ending entire titles.
Thus, young and old, have contributed to making 2020 an extraordinary year for the video-games sector that has grown by more than 20%.
No surprise the best-selling and most played title: FIFA 21, followed by action, sports and adventure games.
Adventure video-games have always had a relevant positioning in the rankings, as games appreciated by multiple categories of gamers, whether they are set in real cities or in completely imaginary worlds.
Maximum example of travel that seems almost real, the Tomb Raider saga, followed by the titles of Assassin’s Creed. The first game offers a real world tour set in the present day, from Japan to Nevada, from the Arctic Ocean to Antarctica, passing through Paris and Venice the settings are particularly accurate and faithful to reality. Assassin’s Creed instead is a real journey through time: twelve wonderful titles that will accompany us from ancient Egypt with the splendid library and the lighthouse of Alexandria, fully open to visitors, to the Viking era, the Crusades, the French Revolution up to present day in a beautiful Manhattan. The reconstruction of the various historical places of interest is spectacular, so detailed and precise that it seems that Ubisoft, the video-game producer, has been asked to help with the reconstruction of the Notre Dame Cathedral it’s 3D projects created for the Assassin’s Creed Unity game in 2014. Set right in Paris, during the French Revolution, it presents a very accurate model of the cathedral: the Ubisoft designers worked for two years to create a realistic image of Notre Dame, including numerous details such as spiers, pinnacles and some statues, introduced later in the nineteenth-century restorations.
The most imaginative gamers, looking for epic adventures in fantastic and extravagant worlds, look at titles such as Zelda, that offer an exploration of Hyrule, a land of vast dimensions made up of deserts or lake areas, alternating with mountainous or wooded areas.
The most patient, enjoy the cities of GTA, which are fully open to visitors. Players will find themselves immersed in a metropolis where you can shop in malls, change your look at local hairdressers or choose a new tattoo to show off in various night clubs, without forgetting to visit the various gun and ammunition shops. Different means of transportation: bicycles, cars, trucks, planes and many others will help them visit the city of 81 sq. Km.
Explorers, on the other hand, can discover the imaginary maps of Age of Empires by expanding their empire, or even the island of Fortnite, capable of simultaneously containing desert areas, bays and snow-capped mountains within a maximum radius of 2600 meters.
Those who instead yearn for a metaphorical journey should choose Dante’s Inferno, where it is possible to lead our great poet to Satan himself, deciding from time to time whether to forgive or condemn the souls we will meet on our path.
Last but not least, Pokemon Go, now an icon of travel through the screens of our smartphones. Thanks to the game’s augmented reality, it is possible to visit the place where you are by stopping at all POIs (Points of Interest) on the map. It has often happened to me to discover statues or small artistic details right near my own home, elements that I have before my eyes every day, that I see but do not look at. Niantic provides an interactive map where gyms and poke-stops are in our city, thus forcing us to look more closely at the world around us and as always, to learn more about our history.
The purpose of travel, in these games, is very different in each of these games. For example, the player is asked to explore to find resources such as wood, gold and iron which will then be used to develop buildings, technologies and to be able to move on to the next historical era. Searching the map in some games is necessary to complete the missions and be able to increase your level; the third reason why the gamer travels is to be able to “platinum” the game or simply complete it 100%.
The setting and exploration of the terrain in which the action takes place is therefore a fundamental part of every game.
In some cases, it can also push some gamers to leave his station for a while and maybe spend the holidays in the country or a city in which his favorite video game is set, so that he can feel part of it in a deeper way.
A bit like in life, “by playing you always learn”, taking full advantage of all the technology at our disposal stimulates interest, the desire to learn about history and the desire to travel.